Call for tougher arms export rules

Procedures designed to control arms exports to prevent them getting into the "wrong hands" are riddled with loopholes, Amnesty International and Oxfam say in a report to be released later this month.

Official figures show that 81 export licences for military equipment have been issued for the Channel Islands, yet there is no recorded information about the physical movement of goods to the islands.

Parliamentary questions established that some of the exports were insignificant - one reference, to "machine guns", was said to mean only a single gun tripod for a museum.

However, the lack of information shows that "conditions exist for an offshore, export black hole" whereby a seemingly non-sensitive dependent territory could be used to channel arms to undesirable end-users, says the report, entitled Destination Unknown. It is known that a number of arms dealers are based in the Channel Islands.

End-use certificates do not legally bind the recipients, the report points out. Last year, for instance, the head of the Indonesian armed forces admitted that a British-supplied Hawk plane flew over East Timor's capital, Dili, despite assurances given by Indonesia to the UK government that the jets would not be used there.

The report urges the government to require embassies to verify end-use documents relating to UK weapons exports. There should be a legal obligation stating that equipment specified in end-use certificates was not used in violation of international humanitarian or human rights law.

Arms suppliers, it says, must be responsible for the delivery of arms to the stated end-user. A list of "undesirable end-users" should be published, annual reports on arms exports should be specific, and parliament should scrutinise arms export licence applications.